I just recently moved my male betta Flame into his new 15 gallon planted tank. The only other inhabitants are 3 cory catfish, and they all get along great. Recently I noticed a fip in Flame's tail fin. Since then it has gotten much worse, and he also had a missing scale on his back.

The only thing that is wrong with the tank as far as I can tell, is that the water is a little cloudy, which I assume is from the plants, because I clean the gravel and do a water change once a week. This does not seem to bother the corys, but could the organic matter cause fin rot for Flame?

Should I move him back to his 5.5 gallon and medicate him? Would a water clarifier help the tank, or hurt the corys? Does anyone else have any experience with cloudy water in a new, planted tank? This is not caused by ammonia. I did a fishless cycle on the tank, and have added fish slowly. Since then, the tank constantly reads; ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, pH 7.6.

Please, if anyone could answer my questions I would be really grateful. This is my first planted tank, and I am very attached to my betta. He was a rescue.

Oh, one more thing. Before I moved Flame into his new home I noticed that some of the scales on his back were standing up. Not like dropsy, and only partly raised in a line of his back. What could this be, would this be related to the missing scale on his back?

Would it be possible to post a picture? It really sounds to me like the damage to the scales is injury-related and not from a disease. Do you have any caves, driftwood, or rocks in the tank that he might have scraped his back against?

Is the water green at all? The only reasons I can think of for cloudy water would be dust from sand clouding it up, a bacterial bloom (which you usually see in cycling tanks, like you said) and algae blooms. What sort of filter are you running on the tank? Increasing the filtration might help to get rid of the cloudiness.

I do think that the missing scale and the rip in his fin were injury related, but I think that his fin has become infected since then. I figured that because my parameters are fine, the cloudiness (I can actually see the particles) is plant matter floating around. Maybe this caused him to become infected. The water is not greenish at all.

Well, within a few days his fin looked a lot worse. It really looked like fin rot to me, so I transfered him back to the 5.5 gallon and put some fungus clear in there. This worked when I bought him, so hopefully it will work again.

I have a mini canister filter rated for tanks up to 20 gallons on there now. I plan on getting another HOB one soon because I realize that it may not be enough.

As for how he hurt himself, I really don't know. All I have in there is a smooth piece of driftwood and live plants. Maybe he had a run in with the filter during the night, although I figured that the tank is big enough for him to stay away from it.

Well, I guess I'll just have to get another filter for the 15 gallon and see if things clear up. In the meanwhile, I will do the recommended course of medication and see if that cures his fin rot. I am not going to put him back in there until I am sure that the water is clear and everything is good. Thanks.